Knitting Distraction:)

I am finally in the "home stretch" for this baby blankie - Honeybaby - by Anne Hanson. So of course, I decided to change things up a bit and to put this into lace overkill.  Call it my affection for the Victorian era in terms of what I think is pretty. I decided that instead of the final pattern chart for this thing, I would instead do a knitted on lace edging.  It is taking for.ev.er. As a result I have not yet reached a corner. Therein will lie the challenge - to add enough stitches to keep things square-ish, yet not so much that we have a floppy corner or worse yet, a circle.

It's looking pretty good so far, if a bit ornate. But I like ornate.  It's fancy, it's for a special baby, the first of her generation who will be much beloved as all babies should be. I hope this blanket will last and be used for any future babies that might enter this family. It is a DK weight yarn- a mix of cotton and linen (KnitPicks Cot-Lin) because her parents and she will be living in the warm Florida climate.

This little bit is just a small fraction of what is left to do...

so, though it definitely should be complete by the time the baby arrives, the interruption of a brief due August 1 and some changes at work conspired to cause a missed deadline for the baby shower.  For that I am somewhat chagrined, but taking the long view, I'd rather do this properly than rush through to just get it done. After doing a bit of measuring, it appears that I hit the blanket dimensions by the time I was done with the second pattern.  The reason: the pattern calls for fingering weight and this yarn is DK. And that is OK:) Adding this bit of lace edging will make the blanket just a wee bit larger than the original pattern - and that is even better. 

You Knitspot fans out there might recognize this edging. It is the edging used in Amalthea and the Capricorn Triangle patterns I had from my pattern subscription to Bare Naked Knitspot 2014 (and also available for sale now on ravelry). It's been a lot of fun, Looking at the beginning of the edging, I am thinking I should have cast those stitches on provisionally.  Will have to figure a relatively unobtrusive way to graft the last row to the first one. Will report back when the time comes. 

I have been sort of a one-flavor person this summer.  So not like me! But this is a project that needs to be done.  The sooner I am done with it, the sooner I can go back to my two summer color projects:

I just wanted to add these pictures to show (1) I had made some progress before beginning Honeybaby and (2) TO ADD SOME COLOR:)! I miss color:)

Into the midst of the craziness that was life last week, a very pleasant surprise arrived in the mail.  I thought my Interweave Knits subscription had expired.  It hadn't yet. So I got the 20th Anniversary issue and all the attendant goodies:)!

An article by Mary Jane Mucklestone on demystifying steeks AND a beautiful Fair Isle pattern which she also penned (Fall River Vest) along with beautiful shawls by two of my favorite designers  - Susanna IC (Catlett Shawl) and Anne Hanson (Edmonia Shawl) and my joy is complete. There is an embarrassment of riches in the sweater department - not a one I wouldn't knit given infinite time and infinite yarn -though I am really, really eyeing the Kathe Cardigan by Linda Marveng - a solid classic cardigan that manages a level of chic femininity.  There are two really cool sock patterns - Bandolier (Lisa Shroyer) an exquisite example of colorwork and  the Thompson River Socks (Carolyn Kern) textured socks with an edgy surprise of color. 

Also included, in addition to Editor Meghan Babin's introduction are Interweave founder Linda Ligon, and former editors Melanie Falick (1999-2002), Pam Allen (20022007), and Lisa Shroyer  (2012-2015) weighing in with guest editorials.  Notable for her absence is former editor Eunny Jang (2007-2012). It would have been nice to hear whatever someone as talented and intelligent as Eunny would have had to say (I'm not prejudiced - but she is a fellow Merliner!).

Overall, it appears the theme for this 20th Anniversary issue has (rightfully in my unprofessional and extremely humble opinion)been an emphasis on the classics - patterns and designs that have remained and will continue to remain with us for years to come - but with just enough of a twist to move with the times. Worth every penny.  I highly recommend this issue.

Well, I should be working, but it's Saturday and I have decided to take this weekend and let it be a weekend. Work will come soon enough on Monday. Our son Dan gave John and me a little thing called Chromecast - it's a plug thingie that works with a lot of TVs these days to link up to your Netflix or YouTube - or anything that plays videos on the internet.  I have a couple of Craftsy classes I want to watch while I get back to work on the edging to the baby blanket, so off I go. 

BTW, for the foreseeable future, I will be posting individual pictures I took back in 2012 of our beautiful Ellicott City.  May the memory of the past become the reality of the future.

Hope to see you all soon here on the interwebs. In the meantime, 

God be with you 'til we meet again+